Jonathan Toews unsure of his hockey future, lands at No. 50 on top free agents board

There is a new No. 50 on Daily Faceoff’s top 50 free agents board — and he’s far from Mr. Irrelevant.

No, this three-time Stanley Cup champion and surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer is only slotted so far down the board because he himself isn’t quite sure yet what the next chapter will be in his hockey life. Or better yet, if there will be another one as a player.

Jonathan Toews is deliberating his future. His agent, Pat Brisson of CAA, said on Thursday that Toews will not be a Day 1 signing next Saturday when free agency opens on July 1 at noon ET. Instead, Toews needs to first determine whether he’d like to continue playing. There are quite a few teams interested in that answer.

Toews, 35, started last season strong with 28 points in 46 games before hitting a wall. He missed the entirety of February and March while dealing with long-COVID symptoms that have never fully dissipated, sapping him of energy and stamina. Toews returned on April 1 for the Hawks’ final seven games of the season, the first he’d ever played in a Chicago uniform without Patrick Kane as a member of the organization.

The only thing we know: Toews and Kane will not be re-signing in Chicago. The Blackhawks want to give Connor Bedard and their next generation of prospects room to grow organically.

That leaves Toews with questions only he can answer: Is his body ready to withstand the rigors of an 82-game season and beyond? Would he like to play somewhere other than Chicago? Is he motivated to continue competing after taking in $115 million in career earnings with a trophy case as stuffed as his bank account?

If the answers to those questions are “yes,” all of the elite teams in the NHL will be interested in talking. Even if Toews is a 50-point shell of himself, the Conn Smythe winner and all-time competitor can sign a bonus-incentivized, 35-and-over contract structure that makes him a no-risk at one of the game’s hardest positions to fill.

Elsewhere, Oliver Ekman-Larsson also joined the board, rocketing up to No. 10 among available free agents. Reminder, it is a weak free-agent class, and Ekman-Larsson will have to weigh whether even a deal as high as projected by @AFPAnalytics (3 years x $3.25 million) is the right play. Or should he sign a short-term, small-money deal on a contending team to rejuvenate his game and his value ahead of the salary cap increasing in a larger way next summer?

Over the next week, as the Devils did on Friday with Erik Haula, teams will work to re-sign their players before they hit the market: Tyler Bertuzzi in Boston, Ryan O’Reilly in Toronto, Adin Hill in Vegas, Scott Mayfield on Long Island, Alex Killorn in Tampa and Jordan Staal in Carolina. The clock is ticking.

With next season’s salary cap set at $83.5 million, here’s a look at Daily Faceoff’s latest top 50:

Daily Faceoff’s top 50 pending free agents

Contract Projections Courtesy of @AFPAnalytics